After months of enduring criticism, Matt Lauer now says the media is to blame for mishandling Ann Curry's exit from Today.

In the new issue of Esquire, Lauer completed a profile of what he's learned throughout his career. When prompted with, "The way the media...," Lauer pointed the finger at the press for Curry's 2012 departure becoming so controversial, and for his own declining popularity.

"The way the mediatreated what happened with Ann Curry was a disappointing learning experience," he wrote. "I was disappointed by the laziness of the media, the willingness to read a rumor, repeat that rumor, and treat it as a fact. And yet, what were my options? Does anyone want to see a person who's making the money that the newspapers say I'm making complaining, "Woe is me, my life is terrible, and people are being unfair"? No one would've had any patience for that. I wouldn't have any patience for that. So you just shut up and go about doing your job and hope that people who know you well — your friends and your family — know what's true."

After Curry's exit, Lauer was widely speculated to have advocated for her dismissal. Although he admitted in a later interview that Curry's exit was not handled well, he also went on record to say that Curry was never his first choice for co-anchor. Lauer's popularity has since waned and Today has ranked behind Good Morning America in the ratings for more than a year.